The Medical College of Georgia (MCG) School of Dentistry will improve access to dental care for underserved Georgians by increasing the state's dental workforce.
A three-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will enable MCG to increase the number of teaching sites in Georgia and also to increase loan forgiveness for graduates who opt to practice in underserved areas.
Seniors complete two-week rotations where they learn alongside dentists at 13 clinics in eight urban and rural areas, including Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Dalton, Dublin, Folkston, Rome, and Savannah. There are 58 single-county or low-income dental health professional shortage areas (DHPSAs) in Georgia.
"The need for more dentists and some redistribution of dentists is evident," said Carole Hanes, associate dean for students, admissions, and alumni in the School of Dentistry and co-investigator on the grant, in a press release. "The goal is to get our students in these areas and be exposed to the needs of these patients."
Private and public practitioners across the state work as volunteer faculty members for the school. The Georgia Statewide Area Health Education Centers Network, which works to improve the diversity of healthcare workers and services for the medically underserved, helps to provide development training for adjunct faculty in these clinics and provides housing for students in some areas.
The hope is that exposure and loan forgiveness will continue to attract students to the state's underserved areas to practice, Hanes said. Funds totaling $200,000 annually will be provided for eight dentists who agree to serve in a DHPSA.
"Each dentist could potentially receive $25,000 each year for three years," Hanes said. "The goal is to help them pay back their loans and for them to establish themselves in these areas. Students see that they could make a living in those areas, and at the same time, they're providing care to underserved patients."
The grant also will maintain MCG's pediatric dentistry rotation at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Center for Craniofacial Disorders. The school has six pediatric residents and sends one each month to treat critically ill patients.
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